Consumer-based system and method for managing and paying electronic billing statements

ABSTRACT

A consumer-based bill management and payment system is configured to receive, analyze, manage and pay electronic billing statements received from the biller over the Internet. The system includes a notification manager that detects when the electronic bill arrives and notifies the consumer. The bill is stored in memory with other unpaid electronic bills. According to another aspect of the invention, the system has a cashflow analyzer that enables the consumer to coordinate the unpaid electronic bills according to different payment schedules for a bill payment cycle (e.g., a month). The goal of the manipulation is to permit the consumer to analyze how the different payment schedules affect the consumer&#39;s cashflow with an aim toward minimizing overdraft during the bill payment cycle. The cashflow analyzer can automatically compute an optimized payment schedule that minimizes overdraft of the consumer&#39;s account, while maximizing the balance to generate the most interest. When the consumer desires to pay a particular bill, the bill is presented to the consumer through a graphical user interface (UI). The bill management and payment system supports a payment analyzer to enable the consumer to determine how much of the electronic bill to pay. The payment analyzer provides a venue to challenge certain items on the bill.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to electronic billing systems. More particularly,this invention relates to systems and methods implemented at a consumerto receive, analyze, and pay electronic billing statements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Essentially everyone is familiar with receiving bills. Every month, likeclockwork, millions of consumers and businesses receive bills for goodsand services. For convenience, the term "consumer" is used throughoutthis document to represent both a typical person who consumes goods andservices as well as a business that consumes goods and services.

At the end of each billing cycle, a biller generates a bill or statementfor each consumer account having a positive or negative account balance,or having transactions that yielded a zero balance. As used herein, a"biller" is any party that originates billing statements for goods orservices rendered to the consumer. Examples of billers are utilities,government, merchants, and intermediate billing services such as banks.

The biller also creates remittance information that associates theconsumer account with the bill and any payment toward the bill. Theremittance information is typically in the form of a detachable stub orcoupon that the consumer detaches from the billing statement and returnsalong with the payment.

The consumer typically pays bills in one sitting, once or twice a month.Until the bill paying time, the consumer collects the bills in onelocation, a bill "safe-keeping" location. This is a bit inconvenientsince the consumer must usually keep many pieces of paper for each bill,including the statement, the remittance stub, the return envelop, and soforth. Additionally, in a family setting, there is often one designatedbill payer. If a non-bill payer member handles the bills in anunconventional manner, such as not putting it in the bill "safe-keeping"spot, or not saving the appropriate pieces, or failing to inform thebill payer that the bill arrived, there is significant risk of a missedpayment, resulting in unnecessary fees.

The behavior patterns of bill payers vary widely. As an example, here isone common scenario. When the bill paying time arrives, the consumerorganizes the bills in some order on the kitchen table. The consumerlists the bills on a paper tablet, including their amount and due date,and begins to mentally analyze when payment should be made. The consumerestimates cash inflow from monthly paycheck(s) or other sources, andestimates the cash outflow resulting from the bills. If the outflowexceeds the inflow, the consumer spends additional time trying todetermine how much to pay on each bill, when to pay it, and so forth toavoid incurring a negative balance in their checking account. Thisexercise is tedious, tiresome, and inefficient.

Once the payment plan is finished, the consumer typically pays the billsby check. Depending upon the analysis, the payment may partially orfully satisfy the amount due in the bill. For each bill, the consumerfills out the payment information on the remittance stub (e.g., amountpaid, payment date, and account number), encloses the stub and check inan envelope (often, pre-addressed), and mails it back to the billerusing the U.S. postal service.

The conventional paper-based billing system has many drawbacks. Thereare many headaches associated with collecting bills without misplacingthem, organizing the bills, figuring out a payment plan, writing thechecks, and so forth. In the end, after all the bills have been paid,the checking account often reflects an ending balance (if Murphy's Lawholds) that is lower than the estimated balance derived on the papertablet.

Unfortunately, the headaches turn to migraines if the consumer alsofinds that he/she has been mistakenly billed and wants to dispute a billor reduce the amount paid for the bill. Under present practices, if aconsumer wishes to dispute part or the entire bill or remove atransaction item from the bill, the consumer must call the billingcompany and discuss the matter with a representative. In many cases, theconsumer is asked to submit a written letter explaining why the bill isinaccurate. This technique is time consuming, inconvenient andfrustrating for the consumer, expensive for the biller, and can induceerrors if the partial payment submitted by the consumer is not properlymatched up with the appropriate items being paid and those items beingchallenged. Thank goodness bill payment is limited to once or twice amonth.

There is a growing popularity and use of personal finance management(PFM) computer software to assist consumers in managing their finances.Examples of PFM software include "Money" from Microsoft Corporation and"Quicken" from Intuit, Inc. The PFM software enables consumers toelectronically track their checkbook and other financial endeavors. PFMusers receive the paper bills, enter them into their computers, andmanage payment of the bills electronically, rather than on a pad ofpaper.

It would be beneficial to devise a consumer-based system that handleselectronic billing statements transmitted directly from the biller andenables the consumer to manage and pay his/her bills electronically.Unfortunately, most of the PFM software focuses primarily on billpayment, with little emphasis on electronic bill management andessentially no innovation in handling electronically distributed billingstatements. Many PFM systems still rely on delivery of paper billsthrough the U.S. mail.

PFM users are often encouraged to join an additional bill paymentservice. Examples of electronic bill payment service providers includecompanies like CheckFree Corporation, Intuit Services Corporation, andVISA Interactive. With this service, the consumer can pay bills withoutwriting paper checks. The consumer sends payment instructions to his/herbill payment service provider by computer (i.e., email), or by telephoneusing an interactive voice response system. For recurring bills, such asa mortgage, the consumer can also arrange so-called "direct debit"payment systems in which routine payment amounts are automaticallydebited from the consumers bank account and credited to the biller'sbank account on agreed transaction dates.

While the PPM systems help alleviate the problems plaguing thetraditional paper-based system, there is room for improvement.

The inventors have devised an electronic bill management and paymentsystem that improves upon existing PFM systems and that is furtherdesigned to effectively handle incoming electronic billing statements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally concerns an electronic bill presentment andpayment remittance system in which electronic bills are delivered toconsumers over an electronic network, such as the Internet. The billerdesigns how a billing statement and payment remittance information willappear to the consumer and electronically transmits the customizedstatement and remittance information over the Internet to a consumer'scomputer.

More specifically, this invention concerns a consumer-based system andmethod for receiving, analyzing, managing and paying the electronicbilling statements received from the biller. According to one aspect ofthe invention, the bill management and payment system (the billingservice) has a notification manager that detects when the electronicbill arrives and notifies the consumer. There is a variety of ways tonotify the consumer, including displaying a bill arrival notice on theconsumer's display, waking-up the computer, launching the personalfinance management application (PFM), or having the billing service callor fax the notice. The bill management and payment system stores thebill in memory with other unpaid electronic bills.

According to another aspect of the invention, the system enables theconsumer to coordinate the unpaid electronic bills according todifferent payment schedules for a bill payment cycle (e.g., a month).The goal of the manipulation is to permit the consumer to analyze howthe different payment schedules affect the consumer's cashflow with anaim toward minimizing overdraft during the bill payment cycle.

In one implementation, the bill management and payment system supports acashflow analyzer user interface (UI) that presents a list of iconsrepresenting the unpaid electronic bills and a date line showing datesin the bill payment cycle. The cashflow analyzer UI enables a consumerto drag and drop the unpaid bill icons from the list, as well as othercashflow items (e.g., paycheck) onto certain dates of the date line. Oneoption is to have the bills automatically "snap" to the appropriate duedate, as an initial placement of the bills on the dates of the paymentcycle.

The consumer can then move the unpaid bill icons and cashflow itemsabout in the date line to form different payment schedules for thebilling cycle. The cashflow analyzer UI shows the consumer's paymentaccount information and automatically adjusts the account informationfor each date as the consumer moves the unpaid bill icons and cashflowitems to form different payment schedules.

According to another aspect, the cashflow analyzer can automaticallycompute an optimized payment schedule that minimizes overdraft of theconsumer's account, while maximizing the balance to generate the mostinterest.

When the consumer desires to pay a particular bill, the bill ispresented to the consumer through a graphical user interface (UI). Thebill appears according to the biller's design. According to anotheraspect of this invention, the bill management and payment systemsupports a payment analyzer to enable the consumer to determine how muchof the electronic bill to pay. Unlike existing direct debitarrangements, the consumer is in direct control of the amount to be paidand the payment date as well as which account they wish to use to paythe bill (assuming they have more than one account). The consumerspecifies the payment date and the dollar amount to be paid. Theconsumer can make partial or full payment toward the bill balance. Theconsumer exercises control of the payment remittance process every timea payment is made.

Moreover, the payment analyzer provides a venue to challenge certainitems on the bill. In one implementation, the biller provides aline-by-line itemization of the bill, along with predefined disputereasons that the consumer can check to challenge particular items on thebill. The bill contains by itself, or in conjunction with the paymentanalyzer, executable code to automatically reduce the amount paid numberto reflect any disputed amounts. The UI also permits the consumer toopen dialog boxes to more fully explain reasons for disputing a bill, orto change an address, or to submit other types of communication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a bill presentment and paymentsystem.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a consumer computer that implements thebill management and payment system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an example illustration of a graphical user interface boxshowing a bill arrival notice.

FIG. 4 shows an example illustration of a graphical user interfacewindow containing an electronic billing statement.

FIG. 5 shows an example illustration of a graphical user interfacewindow containing an icon list of unpaid electronic bills.

FIG. 6 shows an example illustration of the FIG. 5 window, with anoverlaid graphical user interface window containing a data line.

FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 6, but at a time after some of the bill iconshave been dragged onto the date line window.

FIG. 8 is an example illustration of a graphical user interface windowshowing a billing statement for a fictitious company as it arrives at aconsumer's computer.

FIG. 9 is the billing statement of FIG. 8, but shown after a consumerhas made adjustments for disputed items.

The same reference numbers are used throughout the figures to referencelike components and features.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows an electronic bill presentment and payment system 20 inwhich a biller 22 creates and electronically distributes its billingstatements 24 via a service center (not shown) over a network 26, suchas the Internet, to multiple consumers 28(1), 28(2), . . . , 28(N). Thebill presentment and payment system 20 is an electronic, computerizedsystem having computing units at the biller 22 and consumers28(1)-28(N). For convenience, the terms "biller" and "biller computingunit" are used interchangeably throughout this disclosure and referencedby the same numbers.

The biller computing unit 22 creates customized bills and paymentremittance information in a preferred format. That is, the billercomputing unit 22 can design the appearance of the bill, organize howthe billing data is presented to the consumer, incorporateadvertisements or hyperlinks to other services, and create the overallframework for navigating the bill itself. The bills are packaged in oneor more data packets and transmitted over the Internet 26 to theconsumers 28(1)-28(N).

The consumers 28(1)-28(N) receive the billing statements electronicallyfrom the Internet 26. The consumers 28(1)-28(N) each have a userinterface unit to render the electronic bill for viewing. A userinterface unit is preferably a computerized device, such as a computer(e.g., personal computer, laptop, handheld computer, etc.) or aweb-enabled television, or an Internet-enabled screen phone, whichrenders the billing statements through a graphical user interface (UI)on a display. For convenience, the terms "consumer" and "consumerinterface unit" are used interchangeably throughout this disclosure andreferenced by the same numbers.

The consumer can elect to pay the bill electronically. The consumer mayreturn a payment instruction to the biller 22, or a representative ofthe biller, over the Internet. An entire electronic billing system isdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/734,518, entitled"Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment System", which was filed Oct.18, 1996 in the names of Darren Remington and Warren Dent, and isassigned to Microsoft Corporation. This application is incorporated byreference.

This invention is directed to aspects implemented at the consumerinterface unit. More particularly, aspects of this invention concernsystems and methods for receiving, analyzing, managing, and paying theelectronic billing statements received from the biller.

FIG. 2 shows the consumer user interface unit 28 in more detail. Itincludes a processing unit 30, a volatile memory 32 (e.g., RAM), anon-volatile data memory 34 (e.g., disk drive, etc.), a non-volatileprogram memory 36 (e.g., ROM, disk drive, CD-ROM, etc.), a display 38(e.g., computer monitor, television tube, etc.), an input device 40(e.g., keyboard, mouse, track ball, stylus, handheld remote control,etc.), and an I/O port 42 (e.g., modem, satellite dish, network card,ISDN connection, etc.). The computer components are interconnected by anelectronic interconnect structure 44 that consists of parallel andserial conductors, such as SCSI-, PCI-, and RS 232-compatibleconductors. As an example, the biller user interface unit 28 can beimplemented as a conventional personal computer (PC) or a web-enabledtelevision or an Internet-enabled screen phone.

The consumer's user interface unit 28 runs an operating system 46 thatsupports multiple applications. The operating system 46 is stored on thememory 36 and executes on the processing unit 30. The operating systemis preferably a multitasking operating system that allows simultaneousexecution of multiple applications. The operating system 46 employs agraphical user interface windowing environment that presents theapplications or documents in specially delineated areas of the displayscreen called "windows." Each window has its own adjustable boundariesthat enable the bill designer to enlarge or shrink the application ordocument relative to the display screen. Each window can actindependently, including its own menu, toolbar, pointers, and othercontrols, as if it were a virtual display device. One preferredoperating system is a Windows brand operating system sold by MicrosoftCorporation, such as Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows CE, or otherderivative versions of Windows. However, other operating systems thatprovide windowing environments may be employed.

A bill management application 48 runs on the operating system 46 tomanage the electronic bills. The bill management application 48 can be aseparate software component, or integrated with the consumer's personalfinance management (PFM) software. The bill management applicationperforms bill handling and management functions, such as receiving theelectronic bills from the I/O port 42, storing them in the data memory34 as unpaid bills 50, presenting the bills to the consumer, enablingpayment of the bills, and returning the remittance and payment to thebiller (or other receiving party).

The bill management application 48 includes three software modules: anotification manager 52, a cashflow analyzer 54, and a payment analyzer56. The notification manager 52 notifies a consumer when an electronicbill arrives at the consumer user interface. The cashflow analyzer 54enables the consumer to manage payment of the electronic bills basedupon how payment impacts the consumer's cashflow, such as whether payingthe bills will result in an unwanted overdraft condition. The paymentanalyzer 56 enables the consumer to critically view the bill, assesswhether the items are appropriate for payment, and to determineultimately how much of the electronic bill to pay.

The notification manager 52 can be implemented in several ways to givenotice. One technique is to pop-up a notification dialog box on thedisplay 38 when a bill arrives to inform the consumer of the bill'sarrival.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a notification dialog box 66 that ispresented on a display 38 when the bill arrives. The notification box 66contains a message telling the consumer that a bill has arrived. Thenotification screen 66 can be configured to pop-up immediately, forexample, when the consumer is actively viewing or interacting with theconsumer interface unit, or to pop-up when the consumer first turns onthe consumer interface unit.

Another notification technique is to wake-up the consumer interfaceunit. Some computers are now, and many future computers will be,implemented with sophisticated hardware that enables them to wake-upfrom a dormant power-saving is sleep. In such systems, the notificationmodule can be configured to wake-up the computer when a bill isreceived, store the bill, and provide notice to the consumer that thebill has arrived (such as via the notification box 66 of FIG. 3).

Another notification technique is to have the notification manager 52launch the PFM application (if present). That is, when a bill arrives,the notification manager 52 sends an instruction requesting that the PFMapplication be executed. The notification manager 52 can combine thisstrategy with waking up the consumer interface unit so that upon arrivalof a bill, the notification manager restores the active state of theconsumer interface unit and launches the PFM application.

The notification manager 52 might also facilitate provision of otherforms of notification. For example, the notification manager 52 mightprovide an option screen that enables the consumer to specify whetherthey would like to be notified by means other than electronictransmission of the bills. For instance, the bill notification mightoffer a service to call the consumer via telephone or to send afacsimile to the consumer. In such cases, the notification manager 52provides an option to be notified by phone or facsimile. Upon selectionby the consumer, the notification manager 52 sends a message over theInternet to the biller asking it to send bill notifications via phone orfacsimile. In FIG. 2, the consumer is equipped with a telephone 58 and afacsimile machine 60 to receive the bill notices.

When the bill arrives, the consumer may wish to examine the billinitially. The consumer can open the bill and present it on the display38.

FIG. 4 shows an example illustration of a graphical user interface witha billing statement 70 for a company named "GPU Energy" presented on thedisplay 38. In this example, the billing statement 70 is written in a"markup language," such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). HTML is asubset of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), a languageformally defined as "a language for document representation thatformalizes markup and frees it of system and processing dependencies."HTML documents are compatible with the World Wide Web. The HTML billingstatement 70 is rendered by an Internet browser application, such as theInternet Explorer browser from Microsoft Corporation, which executes onthe consumer's computer.

The billing statement 70 appears as designed by the biller. In thisexample, the billing statement has a banner stripe 72 across the top toshow biller and consumer information. The banner stripe 72 contains acompany logo "GPU Energy" and the consumer's name and address. Thebanner stripe 72 may also contain advertisements, announcements, orother types of information. Here, the bill contains a "Repair ServiceInformation" button 74. If the consumer activates the button 74, theconsumer's computer dials a customer services representative over theInternet and the consumer can initiate an online discussion with therepresentative.

The billing statement 70 has multiple softkeys or buttons 76 that formtabbed navigation points to facilitate quick movement from one sectionof the bill to another. In this example, there is a "Summary" tab thatreferences the billing page shown in the figure. Activation of a"Details" tab (via a mouse pointer, for example) changes the screen fromthe summary page to one or more pages itemizing the billingtransactions. A "Customer Service" tab switches to a page givinginstructions on how to access customer service or providing informationon frequently asked questions of customer service departments.

The billing statement 70 has a main body 78 that contains the billingparticulars. On the summary page of the GPU Energy bill, the billingparticulars in body 78 include an amount due, an amount previously paid,a billing period, and statistics on energy usage. On the "Details" page,the billing information in the body 78 might include line itemsdetailing a purchase date, purchase order number, invoice number, itemnumber, description of item, quantity, price, total, tax, and amountdue.

The billing statement in FIG. 4 is merely one example. There areinfinitely many ways to organize and present data. Another example of adifferent bill format is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, which are describedbelow. In addition, the billing statement may contain other items, suchas embedded hyperlinks, executable code, and pop-up dialog boxes, whichprovide additional design flexibility and customization. The biller canessentially create any aesthetics, organization, and detail that itprefers.

With reference to FIG. 2, the consumer can invoke the cashflow analyzer54 to assess how paying the bills will impact the consumer's cashflow.The cashflow analyzer 54 collects the unpaid electronic bills 50received electronically from a biller and enables the consumer tocoordinate the unpaid bills according to different possible paymentschedules for a bill payment cycle, such as a two week period or amonth. In so doing, the consumer can analyze how the different paymentschedules affect the consumer's cashflow during the bill payment cycle.In the preferred embodiment, the cashflow analyzer 54 provides agraphical user interface to facilitate the consumer's review of thebill.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a graphical user interface window 80presented by the cashflow analyzer 54 on display 38. The unpaid billsare represented as graphical icons 82, such as the icons forCableVision, SouthEastern Bell, Citizens Bank, American Express, and soon. The unpaid bill icons 82 are conveniently organized in a list. Theunpaid bill list window 80 of the cashflow analyzer UI shows pertinentinformation regarding the unpaid bills, including the total amount due,minimum payment, due date, and category. The cashflow analyzer UI alsoprovides a summary 84 of the consumer's account (in this case, theconsumer's checking account), showing an account balance, any bills thatthe consumer has paid today, any pending payments, and the remainingavailable finds to pay bills.

The cashflow analyzer 54 enables the consumer to examine various paymentschedules for the unpaid bills. The consumer invokes a second graphicaluser interface window that presents a date line or calendar showingdates in bill payment cycle.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the calendar user interface window 90presented by the cashflow analyzer 54 on display 38. The calendar UI 90is shown partially overlaid on the unpaid bill list window 80. Thecalendar UI 90 shows a date line 92 having a series of dates in a billpayment cycle arranged in a linear bar chart. The dates Jul. 29, 1996 toAug. 7, 1996 are shown in FIG. 6. Each date has a zone 94 into which thebill icons are moved to propose various payment schedules.

The calendar UI 90 also contains a dynamic summary 96 of the consumer'saccount that changes as the consumer experiments with different paymentschedules. Initially, as shown in FIG. 6, the date zones 94 in the dateline 92 are empty. Accordingly, the consumer's account balance in thecalendar UI summary 96 reflects the same balance shown in the summary 84of the unpaid bill list UI 80. The calendar UI 90 also has a bar graph98, with one bar associated with each date in the date line 92. The bargraph 98 reflects the consumer's account balance at each day within thepayment cycle. Initially, the bars in the graph are all at the sameheight equal to the starting balance.

The calendar UI 90 also has a "Best Fit" button 100, which uponactivation is by the consumer instructs the cashflow analyzer 54 toautomatically derive an optimum payment schedule for the list of unpaidbills. The cashflow analyzer 54 seeks to minimize overdraft, whilemaximizing account balances, to thereby maximize the amount of interestearned. This aspect is described below in more detail.

When the consumer desires to experiment with different paymentschedules, the consumer drags and drops the unpaid bill icons from thelist screen 80 onto certain dates of the date line 92. Additionally, theconsumer may drag other cashflow items--such as cash inflow itemsrepresenting payday, a tax rebate, a bonus, etc. or cash outflow itemsrepresenting an unexpected car payment, etc.--onto the date line 92.Icons 102, which are arranged beside the date line 92, represent othercashflow items.

The drag and drop aspects are preferably implemented using objectlinking and embedding (OLE), which is commercially available fromMicrosoft Corporation under a technology known as "ActiveX." OLE is anextensible service architecture built on the Component Object Model(COM) which is both language independent and location independent. OLEsupports an OLE Drag and Drop that is widely used in Windows-compatibleoperating systems. OLE and COM have been well documented and will not beexplained in detail. For more information regarding OLE and COM, referto OLE 2 Programmer's Reference and Inside OLE 2, Second Edition, bothpublished by Microsoft Press of Redmond, Washington, and both of whichare hereby incorporated by reference.

Alternatively, the consumer can set an option to have the unpaid billsautomatically "snap" to their appropriate due date, as an initialplacement of the bills on the dates in the date line 92. When thisoption is set, the bill icons immediately jump to or appear on theappropriate dates.

FIG. 7 shows the overlapping cashflow analyzer windows 80 and 90 of FIG.6, but after the consumer has placed the unpaid bill icons onto the datezones 94 of the date line 92. In this example, the CableVision bill iconis placed on the July 30^(th) date, the American Express bill icon isplaced on the August 2^(nd) date, and so forth. Additionally, theconsumer has dragged a payday icon to the August 5^(th) date to reflecta cash inflow event.

By dragging the bill icons to various dates in the payment cycle, theconsumer has effectively created a proposed payment schedule. As theconsumer is dragging and dropping the icons, the cashflow analyzer 54automatically computes the impact on cashflow. Namely, the cashflowanalyzer automatically adjusts the account information in the summary 96and the bars in the bar graph 98 to reflect the present schedule. Forthe bill arrangement shown in FIG. 7, the consumer's bank accountreveals that after all the bills are paid and the payday is collected,the balance will be $57.73. Notice that in the interim between payingthe bills and receiving a paycheck the consumers account balancesactually become negative as indicated by the bars for August 2^(nd) toAugust 4^(th). The negative bars can be colored (such as red) to helpvisually impart the fact that the account is in negative territory.

If the consumer is dissatisfied with the payment schedule, the consumercan simply manipulate one or all of the unpaid bill icons and othercashflow items to try different payment schedules. The consumer can alsoexperiment with partial payment of certain bills to determine how thatwould impact the cashflow.

The consumer can also activate the "best fit" button 100 to allow thecashflow analyzer to optimize a payment schedule. As one exampleimplementation of this aspect, the cashflow analyzer is programmed toperform the following steps:

Step 1: Set all unpaid bills to their due date. If this payment scheduleresults in a positive balance, then the cashflow analyzer considers thepayment schedule optimized, and the process stops. If this paymentschedule results in a negative balance, the process continues to thenext step.

Step 2: The cashflow analyzer prompts the consumer to indicate whichunpaid bills cannot be late. The cashflow analyzer eliminates thesebills from any delay consideration. The remaining bills (referred to assubset A) are eligible for some manipulation.

Step 3: The cashflow analyzer determines a penalty period (e.g., 10days, 30 days, etc.) that is available for each bill in subset A.

Step 4: The cashflow analyzer determines a penalty cost, if any, on eachbill in subset A, assuming they are paid late. This penalty cost isadded to the appropriate bill amount due.

Step 5: If a negative balance of some constant deficit amount existsbetween just one bill due date and the next paycheck deposit date (callthis time period "y" days), the cashflow analyzer determines thesmallest number of bills, the sum of whose adjusted amounts due just,and least, exceed the deficit amount, and for which the next depositdate fits within the current individual bill due date plus an individualpenalty period. If there are no bills that fit this test, the processadvances to step 6. If one or more bills comply with this test, thecashflow analyzer moves these bills to the next deposit date and endsthe process.

Step 6: For each bill remaining in subset A with a penalty period lessthan y days, the cashflow analyzer tries moving each bill to the end ofits penalty period, computes an interest gained by the delay (via userinput or suggested rate), and compares the interest to the penalty cost.If interest gained is greater than the penalty cost, the cashflowanalyzer moves the bill to end of the penalty period.

The above procedure could be extended to more complicated cases wherethe negative balance decreases over several bill due dates before thenext payment deposit date (i.e. extension of step 5 beyond one billcausing negative payment account position). Additionally, the cashflowanalyzer could determine what a loan for a few days would cost atprevailing rates to cover the negative balance and compare that loancost to the penalty costs. Other alternative financing options could besuggested to the consumer--such as charging certain bill amounts due toa credit card if the biller permits use of this payment instrument. Thecash flow analyzer could be automatically linked to financial advisoryservices, such as anticipated in future versions of Microsoft Money.

After the consumer has analyzed the unpaid bills and decided on apayment schedule, the consumer can pay specific bills as prescribed bythe schedule. When paying a bill, the consumer displays the bill on thedisplay and analyzes the individual bill using the payment analyzer 56(FIG. 2). One bill format is shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 shows another example of a graphical user interface windowcontaining an electronic billing statement 110 presented by the paymentanalyzer 56 on display 38. The billing statement is for a fictitiouscompany Crown Home Improvement Center. The bill UI 110 has a main bodyportion 112 that lists individual line items for each purchase at CrownHome Improvement Center, with each line item containing the purchasedate, purchase order number, invoice number, item number, description ofitem, quantity, price, total, tax, and amount due.

The bill presentment UI 110 provides an easy forum for the consumer toevaluate and challenge certain portions of the bill. It is common that aconsumer might want to challenge a line item on the bill. For instance,the bill might include a tax on an item that is used for a non-taxablepurpose, or the bill might include an item that has not yet beenreceived by the consumer, or the bill might include an item that theconsumer returned.

The bill UI 110 is constructed with appropriate controls that enable aconsumer to dispute an item. As an example, the bill UI 110 mightcontain additional columns which categorize preset reasons forchallenging a billing item, such as tax exempt status, or the producthas not been received, or the item has been returned, or payment waspreviously made, and so forth. With this arrangement, the consumersimply places a "mark" in the appropriate column adjacent to the item.Upon insertion of the mark, the bill UI 110 dynamically adjusts the billto reflect the consumer's challenges. The bill contains both dynamicdata, which can be modified by the consumer inputs, and static data thatcannot be modified.

It is noted that the electronic bill itself, as received from thebiller, might contain the controls to permit line item challenge. Forinstance, the electronic bill can be written as an HTML document thatincludes executable code, such as ActiveX or Java components.Alternatively, the controls may be provided by the payment analyzercomponent to manipulate the data contained in the electronic bill.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show an example of challenging a line item in the billingstatement for Crown Home Improvement Center. FIG. 8 shows the billingstatement as it originally arrives at the consumer. The billingstatement includes an "amount due" column 114 that lists the amount duefor each item purchased from Crown (e.g., the quantity purchased timesthe prices per unit, plus tax) and an "amount paid" column 116 thatlists the amount paid for each item. When the bill arrives, the data inthe amount paid column 116 is dynamic data, which is initially set equalto the static data found in the amount due column 114.

Next to these columns are three columns of pre-arranged dispute reasonsfor non-payment or partial payment of an item. The dispute columnsinclude a "tax exempt" column 118 that is checked if the item should nothave been taxed, a "special order" column 120 that is checked if theproduct has been ordered but not yet received, and a "no receipt" column122 that is checked if the consumer has not yet received the goods. Withthis bill format, the consumer can examine each purchase, line by line.If the consumer desires to challenge an item, the consumer simply clicksor otherwise selects the appropriate column cell.

FIG. 9 shows the bill UI 110 after the consumer has disputed four of theitems. Upon clicking the appropriate cell, the bill UI 110 places avisible "check mark" in the appropriate cell. Where possible, the billUI 110 automatically adjusts the amount paid column 116 to reflect thedisputed amount. For example, when the consumer checks the tax-exemptcolumn 118, the bill UI 110 automatically deducts the tax from theamount paid column 116. In some cases, however, the consumer inputs thecorrected amount paid to reflect the disputed amount. In this example,the consumer deducted part of the amount due for one-half of an order inwhich the consumer has not received the goods.

The bill might also be designed to enable a consumer to open a dialogbox in conjunction with a disputed item. The consumer can write adetailed explanation for the challenge in the dialog box. When theconsumer finishes and closes the dialog box, the text is saved andincluded in the remittance information to be returned to the biller.

The ability to check predefined reasons for disputing a particular itemof the bill, or to enter an explanation electronically through a dialogbox, significantly improves the efficiency of communication between thebiller and consumer, and potentially reduces or eliminates wastefulnon-electronic communication between them. Additionally, since thedisputes are automatically associated with the particular billing item,the process leads to more efficient remittance processes and audittracking processes.

Although the invention has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological steps, it is to be understoodthat the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or steps described. Rather, thespecific features and steps are disclosed as preferred forms ofimplementing the claimed invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A consumer-based electronic bill managementsystem implemented on a user interface unit, comprising:a notificationmodule to notify a consumer when electronic bills arrive; a cashflowanalysis module to enable the consumer to manage payment of theelectronic bills based on impact to the consumer's cashflow, thecashflow analysis module presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) onthe user interface unit that allows the consumer to arrangerepresentations of unpaid bills according to different paymentschedules, the GUI showing a list of unpaid electronic bills and a dateline with dates in the bill payment cycle; the cashflow analysis modulebeing confirmed to enable the consumer to drag and drop the unpaid billicons from the list onto certain dates of the date line to define thepayment schedules and automatically adjust the consumer's cashflowduring the bill payment cycle as the consumer drops the unpaid billicons on selected dates; and a payment analysis module to enable theconsumer to determine how much of the electronic bill the consumer iswilling to pay and when that payment should occur.
 2. A consumer-basedelectronic bill management system as recited in claim 1, wherein thenotification module displays a bill arrival notice on a display of theuser interface unit when an electronic bill arrives.
 3. A consumer-basedelectronic bill management system as recited in claim 1, wherein thenotification module awakens the user interface unit when an electronicbill arrives.
 4. A consumer-based electronic bill management system asrecited in claim 1, wherein the user interface unit maintains a personalfinance management application, and the notification module launches thepersonal finance management application when an electronic bill arrives.5. A consumer-based electronic bill management system as recited inclaim 1, wherein the notification module enables the consumer to set anoption to receive bill arrival notification by external means, theexternal means being selected from a group comprising a telephone or afacsimile.
 6. A consumer-based electronic bill management system asrecited in claim 1, wherein the cashflow analysis module derives anoptimized payment schedule for paying the electronic bills thatmaximizes interest or minimizes overdraft of the consumer's account. 7.A consumer-based electronic bill management system as recited in claim1, wherein the payment analysis module presents an itemized account ofthe electronic bill and enables the consumer to challenge payment of allor part of the electronic bill.
 8. A consumer-based electronic billmanagement system as recited in claim 1, wherein the payment analysismodule presents the electronic bill as a list of payable items andpredefined dispute reasons associated with the items that the consumercan select to challenge a particular item on the bill.
 9. A method forhandling an electronic bill received electronically from a biller,comprising the following steps:receiving an electronic bill; notifying aconsumer that the electronic bill has arrived; storing the electronicbill in a store of unpaid electronic bills; presenting a list of iconsrepresenting the unpaid electronic bills in the store; presenting agraphical user interface having a date line with dates in the billpayment cycle; enabling the consumer to drag and drop the unpaid billicons from the list onto certain dates of the date line to definedifferent payment schedules for a bill payment cycle so that theconsumer can analyze how the different payment schedules affect theconsumer's cashflow during the bill payment cycle; automaticallyadjusting a consumer's cashflow during the bill payment cycle as theconsumer drops the unpaid bill icons on selected dates to define thepament schedules; and enabling the consumer to specify amounts to bepaid on the electronic bills.
 10. A method as recited in claim 9,wherein the notifying step comprises the step of displaying a billarrival notice on a display.
 11. A method as recited in claim 9, whereinthe notifying step comprises the step of waking up the consumer's userinterface unit when the electronic bill arrives.
 12. A method as recitedin claim 9, wherein the notifying step comprises the step of launchingthe personal finance management or other consumer-designated applicationwhen the electronic bill arrives.
 13. A method as recited in claim 9,wherein the notifying step comprises the step of phoning the consumer.14. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the notifying step comprisesthe step of sending a facsimile to the consumer.
 15. A method as recitedin claim 9, further comprising the step of deriving an optimized paymentschedule that minimizes overdraft of the consumer's account during thebill payment cycle.
 16. A method as recited in claim 9, furthercomprising the following steps:presenting an itemized account of theelectronic bill; and enabling the consumer to challenge payment of allor part of the electronic bill.
 17. A method as recited in claim 9,further comprising the following steps:presenting the electronic bill asa list of payable items and predefined dispute reasons associated withthe items that the consumer can select to challenge a particular item onthe bill; and enabling the consumer to challenge a particular item onthe electronic bill by selecting one of the associated dispute reasons.18. A consumer-based electronic bill management system implemented on auser interface unit, comprising:a cashflow analysis module to enable theconsumer to manage payment of electronic bills based on impact to theconsumer's cashflow, the cashflow analysis module presenting a graphicaluser interface (GUI) on the user interface unit, the GUI having a listof icons representing the unpaid electronic bills and a date line withdates in a bill payment cycle, the GUI enabling a consumer to drag anddrop the unpaid bill icons from the list onto certain dates of the dateline to define the payment schedules; the cashflow analysis moduleautomatically adjusting the consumer's cashflow during the bill paymentcycle as the consumer drops the unpaid bill icons on selected dates todefine the payment schedules; and a payment analysis module to enablethe consumer to determine how much of the electronic bill the consumeris willing to pay and when that payment should occur.
 19. Aconsumer-based electronic bill management system as recited in claim 18,wherein the cashflow analysis module derives an optimized paymentschedule for paying the electronic bills that maximizes interest orminimizes overdraft of the consumer's account.
 20. A consumer-basedelectronic bill management system as recited in claim 18, wherein thepayment analysis module presents an itemized account of electronic billand enables the consumer to challenge payment of all or part ofelectronic bill.
 21. A consumer-based electronic bill management systemas recited claim 18, wherein the payment analysis module presents theelectronic bill as a of payable items and predefined dispute reasonsassociated with the items that consumer can select to challenge aparticular item on the bill.
 22. A consumer-based electronic billmanagement system implemented on a user interface unit, comprising:anotification module to notify a consumer when electronic bills arrive; acashflow analysis module to enable the consumer to manage payment of theelectronic bills based on impact to the consumer's cashflow, thecashflow analysis module presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) onthe user interface unit, the GUI having a list of icons representing theunpaid electronic bills and a date line with dates in a bill paymentcycle, the GUI enabling a consumer to drag and drop the unpaid billicons from the list onto certain dates of the date line to define thepayment schedules; and the cashflow analysis module automaticallyadjusting the consumer's cashflow during the bill payment cycle as theconsumer drops the unpaid bill icons on selected dates to define thepayment schedules.
 23. A consumer-based electronic bill managementsystem as recited in claim 22, wherein the notification module displaysa bill arrival notice on a display of the user interface unit when anelectronic bill arrives.
 24. A consumer-based electronic bill managementsystem as recited in claim 22, wherein the notification module awakensthe user interface unit when an electronic bill arrives.
 25. Aconsumer-based electronic bill management system as recited in claim 22,wherein the user interface unit maintains a personal finance managementapplication, and the notification module launches the personal financemanagement application when an electronic bill arrives.
 26. Aconsumer-based electronic bill management system as recited in claim 22,wherein the notification module enables the consumer to set an option toreceive bill arrival notification by external means, the external meansbeing selected from a group comprising a telephone or a facsimile.
 27. Aconsumer-based electronic bill management system as recited in claim 22,wherein the cashflow analysis module derives an optimized paymentschedule for paying the electronic bills that maximizes interest orminimizes overdraft of the consumer's account.